WORD LISTS

Christopher Columbus' Diary: The First Voyage

Christopher Columbus embarked on the first of three voyages to the "New World" with three ships — the Niña, Pinta and Santa María — on August 3, 1492. On October 12th, Columbus and his crew arrived on the island known today as San Salvador. He kept a logbook in which he faked some entries to soothe a mutinous crew, and a private diary in which he described the journey that shaped the subsequent history of the western hemisphere. Upon his return to Spain, Columbus presented these records to Queen Isabella I of Castile. She had the diary copied and retained the original, then gave the copy to Columbus before his second voyage. The whereabouts of the original Spanish text remain a mystery — its location has not been known since 1504. Here are 14 words selected from the historic text.

September 9.—The doctor, who has always
scoffed at the idea of the sea serpent, which, he said, was a travellers' tale (adding, sarcastically, and, I think, very inconsiderately, "like the western passage to China"), was silent all the evening.

September 9.—Officers and ship's company in decidedly less good spirits since the foggy weather began. Sea
serpent incident also caused a good deal of disappointment, the men being convinced we had reached the coast of China, although I had repeatedly explained that we could not possibly make that land for some time yet.

September 12.—This faking has been an easy task, since the log, being only a mean taken every hour and consequently liable to error from the variations in the force of the wind during the intervals, from which an
arbitrary correction is made by the officer of the watch; as this allowance must from its nature be inaccurate, it is very easy to make it more inaccurate still, now, that is to say, that I have squared Roderigo.

September 13.—Have made a startling and disagreeable discovery. There is something wrong or odd about the compass. The
axis of the needle no longer coincides with the geographical meridian it occupies—but makes an angle. This matter must be investigated.

September 17.—Roderigo has constructed an instrument, hanging by a universal joint on a triangular stand, adjusted so as to hang in a plane perpendicular to the horizon, by means of a
plumb line, which is suspended on a pin above a divided circle.

October 10.—Mutiny. Ship's company refuse to go on. Insist on returning to Spain. If I refuse they threaten to kill me; but I fear they will kill me if I consent. Otherwise the matter would be simple. Have asked for three days'
respite.

October 11.—He said at dinner yesterday that we might come home by the Nile, as we should certainly encounter its source in China. Want of taste. It is only too plain that both officers and ship's company are growing sceptical as to the practical results of our voyage. Wish the King and Queen of Spain had been a little less
sanguine. We shall indeed look very foolish if we come back having accomplished nothing.

October 12.—
Hoisted Spanish flag; took possession of the country, which seems to be India, and not China, after all. Call it West India or Hispaniola. Natives talk in a drawling sing-song, chew tobacco and gum, and drink Manzanilla and Vermouth mixed, icing the drink.